TUAW's Daily App: Leap Sheep! HD

I'm actually writing this post very, very, very late on Sunday night. I was up far too late working and playing video games, so a game like Leap Sheep! HD turns out to be perfect for this time of day. Leap Sheep is the first iPhone game from Turtle Rock Studios, a company that's worked with Valve in the past on titles like Counter-Strike and Left 4 Dead, and their past experience shows up here; this one is polished and dripping with charm and atmosphere. The actual gameplay is very simple -- you have a set of sheep leaping over a fence, and you tap once to help them jump and tap again to make them do tricks. It quickly gets chaotic, though, as the three lanes fill out and the sheep start piling up.

The graphics are colorful and bright, and the game runs well. It's also Plus+ enabled, and half the fun is getting achievements for jumping three sheep at a time or using a ram to clear out a stuck flock. It's a Canabalt-sized thrill rather than an epic title, but for just 99 cents in a universal iPhone and iPad package, the price is more than right. If you find yourself up late and trying to sneak a little more gaming into your day, try counting these guys for a while.